


Take Your Time (Coming Home)

by luckylesbiancoffeecakes



Series: the runaway collection [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Smut, Jean and Eren are cousins, M/M, Rating may go up, brief mentions of abuse, eventual Eren/Armin, other characters added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 20:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/996636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckylesbiancoffeecakes/pseuds/luckylesbiancoffeecakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The next time Eren's father hits him, he makes sure that it really becomes 'the last time'.  And with little regret and not much more hope he runs away from a place he once called home to be Taken in by his cousin and his cousin's boyfriend.  </p><p>This is the story of how a small town boy learned the hardships of both himself and other's, fell in love with a quiet shelf stocker at a library, and found a home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hear the Wheels as They Roll

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter seems a bit short, so I apologize for that!

It had become a norm every since his mom past away that Eren's father would come home drunk. He didn't blame him at first, because everyone needed some kind of way to cope with the death of someone that important to them. Over time though, Eren became less and less forgiving of his father's destructive behavior. He would pick fights with him every time he came home late from the bar, riling him up to the point that sometimes, his father's had would leave a warm stinging sensation behind after it struck his face. After every moment like that they would silence themselves for no more than a few seconds before his father broke down into tears begging for forgiveness, and telling him the that it would be the last time he ever did that. 

The next time it happened Eren gave his father no choice but to keep that promise. 

-

It was sneaking into the early hours near dawn when Eren had finished gathering up his bags and getting them downstairs. He stayed quiet about it for fear of waking his father and being questioned on his actions, before peering into the man's room and finding him passed out in the clothes he had worn out the night before. Eren silently prayed for alcohol poisoning before clicking the door shut softly and padding towards the stairs. He grabbed the few bags he had packed and checked his phone for any messages from his cousin before walking out of the house and across the street to the car. He threw his bags into the back see and did a quick count over to make sure he had gotten all of them before pulling a jacket out of one and shrugging it on. He hopped into the front seat and started the ignition, hoping that he could warm the car up to his liking while he pulled out a state map. It wasn't incredibly hard to get to where his cousin lived, and it would take no more than a few hours, though it was reassuring to know now that he would be awake and waiting for him in case he needed to call for any extra help. He put the map off to the side and sent one more message to his cousin. With one last look at his house, he shifted into drive and left his neighborhood. 

-

His cousin Jean and his boyfriend Marco lived together in a one story house in a small little neighborhood where Marco was attending university. It was around 7 a.m. on a Saturday when Eren pulled up to his house, and while he had been expecting it he was still a bit surprised to see the house lights on. It was a stark contrast to the rest of the neighborhood, Eren noted as he walked towards the door, though given the day most people would probably be in bed for a few more hours before they even gave one thought to waking up. He dropped his bags on the small makeshift porch and gave the door a tentative knock before stepping back and waiting. It wasn't long before he heard the mix of heavy footsteps coming from the occupants of the house. The door was thrown open and before he got the chance to grab his bags Jean was frantically ushering Eren inside the warm house. Marco, who had been considerably calmer than his partner picked up Eren's bags and placed them in the small living area before following the two into the kitchen where Jean is frantically checking Eren for bruises. 

"I told you already Jean, he didn't hit hard enough to leave a mark, I was just sick of putting up with all of his drinking bullshit." 

Eren watched as Jean pulled out a chair next to him and slumped down in it. His cousin gave a heavy sigh before looking back from him to Marco. The three were silent for a couple minutes and Eren kept watching as Jean and Marco seemed to have a conversation with their eyes. Jean gave another sigh before looking over at Eren. 

"Your dad is a fucking idiot. You can stay here as long as you need to. I won't rat you out but I can't guarantee one of our other relatives won't." 

Eren huffed out a laugh before quietly thanking him. Marco made coffee before walking the two out on the back patio because in his words "none of us are going back to sleep so we might as well do something dumb and cliche like watch the sun rise". And to Eren, it already felt more like a home than his last one did.


	2. Let Your Lungs Fill Up With Smoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry the first couple of chapters are so short! This is my first attempt at writing a longer story so I'm trying to get used to the formatting of it. I promise I'll work on writing longer chapters!

Eren should have been angrier than he was. A fact that Jean kept reminding him. And after most incidents like this he would have been seething with rage, angry that his father would keep doing these kinds of things but he was just so tired now. His blood wasn't boiling and his vision wasn't clouded over and maybe it was because he was content. Eren had made the right choice in his mind after all, leaving home in favor of a place that might be safer for him. Upon explaining this to his overheated cousin, the older boy simply slumped down and sighed. 

"He's right Jean. He could have done something a lot more irrational than he did, now stop badgering him." 

Eren silently thanked whatever deity had blessed Jean with Marco. The freckled boy hadn't spoken much through the morning, though when he had only calming words had come from his mouth. It wasn't until that morning that Eren had understood what his Aunt had been talking about in the past two years when she gushed about Jean's boyfriend being a literal saint. He seemed relatively unnerved by the situation before him, as if it was a visit he had been expecting for awhile now. He set a plate down in front of Eren, drawing him out of his thoughts long enough to look down at the lunch that had been set before him. The trio ate in a comfortable silence, the fact that they had skipped breakfast finally setting in. The meal was nothing all that special though Eren noticed quickly that Marco was a much better cook than his father had ever been. He ate quickly, excusing himself when he was done to go put his bags in the spare bedroom. It took him only a few minutes to unpack the the things he had be able to get together while his father had been sleeping and when Eren was done he crawled onto the spare bedroom's mattress and stared at the ceiling while he let his mind wander. A few things were thoughts presented themselves more boldly than others, like when would his dad figure out that he had left town, when would he would he come searching for him, would he even really search? Eren covered his face and groaned in frustration almost missing the soft knock on the room's door. He looked over to be greeted with his cousin's face peeking through the door. 

"Hey." 

"Hey." 

"Do you um, wanna talk about it?" 

Eren blinked slowly, briefly considering it. When he was growing up his extended family had always talked about how Jean would talk about feelings the day the Earth ended. He had be constantly berated by our aunts about how he would never find a nice girl with the attitude he had carried towards meeting other people. In retrospect they had been right, he never did find that nice girl. Though Eren had a feeling he would be keeping the nice boy in the kitchen for awhile. 

"Yea, I guess we can talk about it." 

\- 

An hour or so of what should have been more serious conversation later, the two emerged from the spare bedroom with Eren feeling better than when he had went in there. They found Marco out on the back patio again where he offered Eren a spot next to him and a cigarette. The trio found the same silence they had found early in the morning when Eren had arrived. Though this kind of silence was more comfortable than Eren had experienced when he was back home. There was no forceful conversation to break it, and no tension between the males that sat scrunched together on the second step. It was peaceful and easy. Though the two older boys didn't seem too content to stay that way for long. It was Marco that spoke up first. 

"So I need to go into town tonight to pick up some books for my classes, and Eren I doubt after the morning you had you'd want to stay cooped up tonight. Would you like to come with?" 

Eren thought about it for a couple moments. Marco was right, he really didn't want to stay locked up in the house all evening, and getting the chance to go out tonight would give him a feel for the what the town was like, which he would need. After all, he didn't know how long he'd be staying. 

"Yea that sounds great actually. I'd love to come."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on tumblr @lesbianaradias 
> 
> I'll be tracking the tags #Fic: Take Your Time (Coming Home) and #tytch so you can check those for updates and leave stuff about the fic in them if you want! 
> 
> Also here's an apology for the updating schedule ahead of time because I'm a college student so my school dictates most of my time, and so some updates may be scattered or very close together depending on when I have time and inspiration


	3. Forgive Everyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's get a glimpse at Marco's past and introduce Armin.

To Eren, Marco was an enigma. Never in his life had he met someone who was as naturally nice as the older boy. He had offered earlier to take Eren into their small downtown with him so he wouldn’t have to stay cooped up all evening. Eren had taken the offer, knowing Marco was right, and now the pair sat together in the silence of the car save for the sounds of music that was drifting through the speakers and Marco’s soft humming. Eren fidgeted with the hem of his shirt a bit, not sure if he should have been entirely comfortable with the older boy. Picking off a piece of lint of his jeans he spoke quietly.

"Hey Marco?" he asked, half hoping that the music had covered his words up.

But Marco had stopped humming and reached over to turn down the volume of the music before speaking back.

"Yea Eren?"

Eren huffed a short breath before responding, “Could I ask you something?”

"Yes of course you can Eren."

Eren took a quick glance at the freckled boy only to be welcome with a soft smile that he could only find himself defining as trustworthy.

"Why are you so nice?" he found himself blurting out before he gave himself a second to actually think about how he would word the question. He grimaced and went to correct the awkward wording of the question before he registered Marco’s laughter. Eren looked over fully this time to catch the older boy bringing a hand up to his cheek and wiping a tear off of it before he was smiling widely again.

Slightly out of breath Marco replied, “I don’t know, I guess I just feel a lot of sympathy for your situation.”

Eren thought for a couple minutes, wondering if he was allowed to challenge for a story behind Marco’s choice of wording or not. After some hesitation he spoke up again.

"Why do you feel so much sympathy?"

Marco huffed out a quiet breath before reaching over to turn the stereo off completely. His mouth set into a more serious expression, drastically changed from the smile that had adorned it earlier. He took a quick side glance at the younger boy before starting to speak.

"I can’t give you my entire life story right now because we’ll be into town soon but here’s what I can give you," he started softly, "when I was 18, I did everything my father wanted me to do. I never once disobeyed him for his peace of mind alone. His peace of mind however, had been interrupted when he caught me doing some close to questionable things with your cousin. He threw Jean out and the second he closed the door he whipped around a punched me square in the jaw. He told me that I wouldn’t be living under his roof if I was going to be a faggot lover, and so I scampered up to my room as fast as I could before he could hit me again. I stayed locked up in my room until about 4 a.m. when I knew he would be asleep. I packed the stuff I knew I’d need up, called Jean, and went to his place. Your aunt welcomed me with open arms and let me remain there through my senior year of high school. When Jean and I graduated we moved into a dorm room on the university campus. He figured out that college wasn’t for him very quickly and picked up a job at the local coffee shop. The second semester we found a small house about 20 minutes from the university and moved in together. So that’s why I feel sympathy for you. Because I experienced something kind of similar to the situation you’re in right now." 

"But that doesn’t answer the first question I asked." 

Slightly confused Marco replied, “First question?” 

"Why are you so nice?" 

Marco contemplated the question for a bit. The small smile that he had before returned to his face and as they pulled up to a the first stop light of the small downtown area he looked over at Eren. 

"I guess it’s because I’m learning to forgive everyone."

-

The lights of the bookstore were almost blinding, though regardless Eren hastily followed Marco into the small bookstore. The older man told him to look around a bit while he went up front to get the books he had ordered. Eren nodded his head a bit before shuffling towards the nearest shelf of books. He wandered through a few isles before stopping in one that held classic literature. Nothing about reading had ever been all that appealing to Eren, though he supposed if he was going to try and live his life anew he might as well start with small changes. Brushing his fingers over the titles he pulled one off of the shelf. 'Oliver Twist' it read. 

"That's a good one." Came a quiet voice to his left. 

Flinching slightly Eren looked over to see a boy, probably no older than him, looking at the book in his hands. He glanced his eyes over him noticing first his hair, then his smaller frame, and finally landing on the most brilliant blue eyes he'd seen in a while. Which had gone from looking at the book to looking Eren in the eye. 

"I've um, never read it. What's it about?" He said quickly, hoping the boy had not noticed his wandering eyes. 

The boy gave a soft smile before replying, "it's about an orphan named Oliver who runs away from his workhouse to London, where he becomes a member of a pickpocketing gang and eventually gets taken under the wing of a master criminal." 

Eren hummed quietly at the description. Maybe he could get into reading after all. He quickly turned to the side to thank the boy who helped him, before realizing that he had already walked away. In the place where he stood not moments before, was Marco, holding what seemed to be too many books for his own good. 

"Ready to go?" The freckled man asked. 

Nodding his head quickly he followed Marco out the door of the shop, not seeing the blonde haired boy as the left. When the books were loaded into the trunk, the took the road again, leaving the small downtown behind them. The drive was quiet, and the only thing Eren could seem to think about was the boy who had told the story of Oliver Twist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like it took forever to get this out and I apologize for such. I had half of it finished by last Wednesday and then got swamped with things to do. There will be a little ficlet later on with Marco's entire backstory as to why he ended up living with Jean (in fact, minus editing and such it's pretty much done!)
> 
> just a reminder that I'm tracking #lesbianaradias, #Fic: Take Your Time (Coming Home), and #tytch in case you need to find me on tumblr! 
> 
> And a big thanks to everyone so far who has read, commented, kudo'd, and bookmarked! I love each and every one of your beautiful faces

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first real attempt at writing something serious so I hope you guys will enjoy it! The Fic title is a Song by Fun. and the chapter title is one of the lyrics. 
> 
> you can find me at lesbianaradias.tumblr.com


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